The Master is Calling! : EASTER IS THE BEST.

Dear Family and Friends,

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Oh my good gravy, where to start with this week... last Monday we did
shopping, I got home and thought, "I don't really feel like emailing
today... so I didn't haha. But I did send my last weekly this morning
so y'all can't complain. Instead I pretty much just played with Nala
all day. She is completely healthy and growing like a weed! Love that
dog.

On Tuesday we tried some street contacting and came to the harsh
realization that our street contacting skills are very rusty haha.
We're going to have to get used to the fact that people actually go
outside again! Later that night we had a great institute lesson with
the YSA. The coolest part? One of the members of the YSA, Allie,
brought a friend! Her name is Autumn and she is the coolest. She
expressed to us after institute that she was just looking for God, and
Allie asked her if she would come to her church activities! Missionary
work is the best when members work with the missionaries. We just
chatted with her for a while after Institute and established that our
goal was to help her find God and that it would be her responsibility
to do the reading and praying. She really seemed to like that! Can't
wait to see where this one goes.

Wednesday was our last District Meeting of the transfer and it was so
good! I gave a 25 minute discussion and it really just felt like the
spirit took over and guided my every word. So nice when that happens!
After district meeting, we got together with the other district and
took the most epic Zone picture ever! It was awesome. That day there
was free ice cream at the local ice cream shop so we stopped in, and
let me tell ya, there is nothing quite like honey cinnamon ice cream.
Best thing I've tasted in the history of ever. That night we did
splits and I got to go with good ol' Brother Burningham. This man is
just good! He is fun to be around and he is a great teacher. While he
and I were out contacting less-actives, we knocked on the door of a
family that neither of us knew. When he came out, he was extremely
kind and said that he was busy right then but wanted us to come back,
share a message and have dinner with them! Sometimes you wonder how
some people went less-active. We can't wait to get back there. As we
left he said, "don't worry, I'll make sure you are fed very well!"

Thursday morning we had a really good lesson with Mike. We discussed
what he got out of the last chapter he had read and some of his
reflections on General Conference that he had been pondering on. We've
been feeling that he is just a little to comfortable with where he is
at so we have been praying that he will soon realize that there is so
much more available to him! That night we had an awesome YSA activity.
We played catch phrase, which is a very difficult game after being on
a mission for 18 months! Seriously don't remember anything.

Ooh this week we went to the post office to send a package off for
Elder Fleming and before we went in we decided to talk to as many
people as we could. It was sick, I was teaching the lady in front of
me while Elder Christensen taught the lady behind him. I love moments
like this! You can share the gospel wherever you are, especially
around Easter, everyone wants to talk about their Savior right about
now.

On the way out from the post office we bumped into a member and felt a
prompting to ask them if we could have dinner with them because we
didn't have a dinner that night and they always told us it was an open
invite. They got all excited and told us about this cool Passover
dinner thing that they were doing at another member's house. It was
one of the cooler things I've been a part of on my mission. There were
a bunch of nonmembers there and we went through the Passover the way
the Jews do and learned so much! One of the coolest things we learned
was that at every Passover feast, they set an extra place for Elijah
the prophet who was prophesied to return and turn he hearts of the
children to the fathers and the fathers to the children. Well guess
what, he did return... to Joseph Smith... on April 3rd... which in
that year was the same day as Passover!! Crazy. We also got some pics
with baby goats!

Had a fun, short, exchange with the Columbia Falls Elders. Elder Emms
came with me and I went and conducted a Baptismal interview with an
investigator of theirs. It was one of the coolest interviews I have
ever had, this woman was so kind, so good and so ready! One of the
interview questions asks if they believe that Joseph Smith was a
prophet. Before I could finish talking she stated her solid testimony
that, "Yes he is." What a cool lady!

Friday night was SUPER cool! Allie, the girl that brought her friend
to institute, invited us over for a super fancy, super yummy dinner
cooked by them because Allie, her non-member friend Autumn and another
member friend of theirs are all going through a culinary arts program
and they are very good! It was fantastic food. The dinner was at her
uncle Scott's house, Scott is a non-member as well and he was very fun
to be around. He is very intelligent and very funny. We spent the
night learning from each other and laughing together. Scott is also an
incredible woodworker and I was like a kid in a candy shop looking at
all the stuff he made! Before we left we got to share the Prince of
Peace video and talk about Easter. The spirit was powerful and
testified to each of us of the truthfulness of the message.

Easter was AMAZING! The talks in the ward were amazing. And I got a
few ideas and scriptures for the talk I would be giving in the YSA
branch a little later, so that was good! We also had Mike at church
with us and the non-member fiancé of a guy in our ward. To add on to
that, we also had a less-active member named Lee show up today to! She
is a character, I will have to tell you all about her a little later.
In the YSA ward, Allie brought Autumn and her uncle Scott. We gave the
talks during sacrament meeting, on the Atonement and Resurrection and
the spirit absolutely filled our mouths!

Last of all, but not least... Cookie night was on Easter and it wasn't
at the Boyce's, it was at Lori's! It was SO much fun. We had an Easter
egg hunt, which was surprisingly very hard. I felt like a little kid
again haha. We had so much fun! I was having a hard time finding any
at first, but then I got the hang of it. Elder Christensen however...
haha he only found one! He got ruthlessly teased haha. Afterward we
went in and had a scrumptious dinner and lively conversation. It was
sick.

Love you all!!

Love,
Elder Thomas

When Elder Christensen feels sick but we still gotta work haha